Mojo Magazine

Main picture

When looking at this magazine cover, the first thing that instantly stands out is the picture of Johnny Marr. With his hand pointing out towards you it seems like Mojo are trying to make you feel like a member of the magazine. With this use of him they make you feel like you belong to the group, as in Maslow’s theory having a feeling that you belong somewhere fulfils you.

Not only does the Picture of Johnny Marr make the reader more enticed but also stands out from the rest of the cover like a sore thumb. The reason for this is that on almost every feature of the cover the picture is interfering with it. On the masthead (which is one of the most important parts of the cover) for example Johnny overlaps the title and immediately makes the customer get distracted by the main article. As Johnny Marr is so well known throughout the music industry having his face disrupting the masthead will instantly attract music fans as well as Mojo subscribers.

Masthead

With Mojo being such a big music magazine, the masthead is probably one of the most important features of the magazine because it shows the quality of the magazine. Any keen music lover would realise that a Mojo magazine would just be about music and not full of adverts and no text. With such an easy name for the magazine it enables them to have it covering the whole width of the page without ruining the presentation.

As it covers the whole width of the page it inevitably it will take up a fair amount of room. For example the main articles picture of Johnny Marr overlaps with the masthead. To stop this from being a problem the name has to be so easy to read that customers can miss out almost couple of letters and still instantly be able to know what magazine it is.

With Mojo being such a massive music magazine the style/look of the magazine is crucial for it to not lose any customers. With style being so important all the colours must be the same theme and suit the style of the magazine. With this in mind Mojo used a plain and simple colour for the masthead. The colour white works well and doesn’t create conflict and distract the customer from the features displaying what is inside the magazine.

Features

Linking with the main image the features show what articles are written about Johnny Marr and his band The Smiths.  The features itself are all in different sizes, colour and fonts. With all of these features clashing in different formats, it makes the features stand out and help advertise what is inside the magazine.

  The main feature about the smiths is relatively small. The small piece of text saying “The Smiths Acid Trips And Going Solo” compared to other features on the cover it is relatively small. One of the main reasons the editor would have chosen that would be because of the picture. There would be no need to have such big pieces of text about The Smiths when there is already a picture about it.  Any customer with an interest in The Smiths would have a look at the article no matter what it is about.

The use of different colours means a colour clash throughout the cover. Doing this creates an effect on the features which makes them stand out a lot more. This happens because all the different colours create conflict and make it attractive towards the eye.  Although there are multiple colours being used on the features they are all in style with the magazine. The colour scheme is a very simple design and doesn’t ruin the image of the magazine being a stylish music magazine.

Plugs

As soon as you read the masthead you are instantly drawn to the plug in the left hand corner of the page. The sticker like shape offers the customer free CD’s when buying the magazine. Not only do they have that plug but they also offer chances to see “The Damned” for any music fans the chance to see the band live is a great experience and a chance in a lifetime.

The plugs are placed in places in the magazine where they are easily seen and don’t involve much looking. The reason for this is because they want to try and attract new customers. Having the plugs in such places means that people walking by would be attracted to the offer of free CD’s or the chance to see The Damned play live.

The colour of the plugs is slightly out of place compared to the rest of the magazines colour scheme. When looking at the two biggest plugs:  “Free CD!” and “Skip off school and see The Damned” there colour is completely different compared to the rest of the magazine’s cover.  The colours green and yellow make it unusual and stand out completely from the page causing you to notice them and read them.